Results 361-380 of 16,410 for are speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding. The Hot School Meal option of the Programme was introduced in 2019 and is currently only available in primary schools. Ennistymon Vocational School, which was a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Priorities (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. These include contributory payments, based on PRSI contributions, such as Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension, and non-contributory payments, based on a means test, such as Disability Allowance and Blind Pension. At an estimate, a non-means tested universal payment at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: With more than 90 separate schemes and services in my Department, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State, I am committed to ensuring that members of the public are aware of the supports and services available to them through my Department. Public information campaigns play an important role in helping to make people aware of their benefits, and all of our advertising...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average number of weeks to award a Disability Allowance claim is currently 12 weeks. My Department understands the many pressures faced by people and always seeks to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: International Protection (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...through the EU as EU citizens. In October 2023, the EU Council agreed to extend the period of temporary protection to March 2025. Options on what arrangements might be in place after March 2025 are being considered at EU level and the Minister for Justice is the lead Minister for Ireland. Discussion of options for when temporary protection is due to expire in 2025 are ongoing, both within...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year. Carer's Benefit is available to people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. To qualify, the carer must satisfy PRSI conditions, employment conditions, show that they are providing full-time care and attention and must show that the care recipient requires full-time care and attention....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the Programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding. I am committed to continuing to expand the School Meals Programme and building further on the significant extension of the Programme that has taken place in recent...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...in the Free Travel scheme in 2023, including bus and ferry operators. The Free Travel Scheme is available to all persons aged over 66 and those under age 66 on certain qualified payments, who are living legally and permanently in the State. The scheme permits those who are eligible to travel for free on most CIÉ public transport services, Local Link, LUAS and a range of transport...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The living alone increase is a payment for people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments, including state pension (contributory), state pension (non-contributory), widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's (contributory) pension, widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's (non-contributory) pension, widow's/widower's pension under the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make an Additional Needs Payment (ANP) to help meet essential expenditure which an eligible person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income. ANPs are awarded at the discretion of the Designated Persons administering the scheme considering the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. I confirm that my Department received an application for DA from the person concerned on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Personal Public Service Numbers (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...work in Ireland, they must have a signed offer of employment from their employer confirming when their job is due to start or when it started. Other examples of why a person may need a PPS Number are: to apply for a social welfare payment to access medical services to apply for or exchange a driver’s licence to access other public services to register for a course in a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...within the parliamentary question for the person concerned do not match the records of my department, and without information relating to the circumstances of the person concerned, my officials are unable to advise on an income support payment. My department is responsible for the administration and payment of a range of supports to assist an eligible person who is parenting alone...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the valuable role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...reinstate such a universal grant would have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context, including its actual effectiveness in helping people with funeral costs. It is worth noting that there are a range of supports available for people following bereavement which provide more significant support than the former grant. These include weekly-paid Widow's, Widower's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Priorities (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Benefit Payment for 65-Year-Olds was introduced in line with the Programme for Government commitment to address the position of people who are required to or choose to retire at age 65 before the State pension age of 66. The payment is designed to bridge the gap for people who retire from employment or self-employment at age 65 until they qualify for the State Pension at age 66. This...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Chief Appeals Officer continually monitors the number of appeals on hands and processing times. Every effort is made to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Priorities (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am sure that the Deputy can appreciate how processing times can vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of...